XXX IRISH EDGE XXX

A website dedicated to archiving my collection of old punk and hardcore rarities. Having dug out my old cassette tape / vinyl archive, I'm attempting to get the less available items up here - be they demos; live shows or just hard to find vinyl.

Saturday, March 1, 2014

INSIDE OUT (CA) - "No Spiritual Surrender DEMO 1990"

Here's another item of mine that I've never seen anywhere else before.

I got this recording of Inside Out from a tape-trading friend back in the day. It has 7 tracks by Inside Out, all of which appear on the Cd version of their release on Revelation.

The track shere are a little rougher than the final release and there are two recordings of one of the tracks (Redemption). The tape I received had these recordings down as a demo of No Spiriitual Surrender. I never checked at the time but I reckon these are rough practice tracks in advance of the EP recording for Revelation.

Inside Out existed from August 1988 to roughly fall of 1991, releasing a single 7" EP, No Spiritual Surrender, in 1990, on Revelation Records (later converted to six song CD). They played up and down the West Coast and even toured the East Coast once before their breakup in 1991. They had written material for a second record, to be titled "Rage Against the Machine" (whence the name for de la Rocha's next band came), but the band broke up shortly after their guitarist, Vic DiCara, left the band to become a Hare Krishna monk. Inside Out performed on California radio station KXLU,
showcasing a number of new songs including the song "Rage Against the
Machine", which had become a staple in their recent live sets.
Some of their songs focus on issues in society and in the USA
(Redemption, Burning Fight) and some are personal to members of the band
(Sacrifice, By a Thread). Many of their songs themes are spiritual, but
not necessarily religious.

Friday, February 28, 2014

FREEWILL - Live at Gilman Street, 13th August 1988.

Ok, so here's another one from the vault - a live cassette of FREEWILL from California, USA playing at the famous "Gilman Street" venue. This is from a show they played on Saturday the 13th of August. Also on the bill that day were Last Option; Reason To Believe; Walk Proud and Think Twice. All this for just USD $5.00 according to the ad from Gilman.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

OK so here is the excellent "Unity is Strength" LP by "Social Justice" a late 1980's Hardcore band from California. The band changed their name in the 90's to DOWNSET and under that guise were very popular with videos on MTV etc. I was lucky enough to catch DOWNSET live back in June 1994 when they played Dublin with "Dog Eat Dog" - as support for "Biohazard". The gig ended early after fighting between Biohazard and the bouncers. If you were there you'll remember how crazy it all got!

The MP3s are ripped from the "Lost & Found Records" re-issue of the LP on CD, as pictured above. The original vinyl release is shown below.

From the band's Myspace page:

http://www.myspace.com/xsocialjusticex"Formed in late 1986 in Bell Gardens, California with Jesse & Luis
Garcia and Eddie LN?; playing a few backyard parties before the Garcia
brothers moved to Sylmar, Ca. and through friendships via the hardcore,
punk, and graffiti art scenes Rey Oropeza, David Acosta, and brothers,
Jesse & Luis Garcia reformed and drove the San Fernando Valley band
to quick notoriety in the local scene. Playing with local bands, the
band gained scene notoriety very quickly. Recruiting Steve Sain after
recording their first demos, they were rocking the local scene with
bands such as Positive Approach, Misguided, and IDK, and sharing the
stage with bands like Bad Religion NoFx, Pennywise, All, Slapshot,
Insted, Inside Out, Uniform Choice, and many more playing in the best
venues in LA at the time. Social Justice signed to Mystic Records in
1989 after a Bad Religion show to enable the first recorded 12 inch LP,
"Unity Is Strength" recorded at the Bad Religion HQ of West Beach
Studios in Hollywood, Ca, and Engineered by none other than Brett
Gurewitz himself. Released on Safe Side (Mystic) records in 1989, and,
and after change of paths of some members the band split and went their
separate ways just after the release of the album, but it was far from
over...

Rey decided to keep the band going and took time to find new players.
Rey, Raul (drummer from Positive Approach), new members Don Ward on
guitar and James Morris on bass started the band back up, but Raul's
often absenteeism prompted them to find a new drummer. The new Social
Justice recruited Chris Lee from the bands hometown of Sylmar. Chris was
also into graffiti and punk, so the chemistry was right from the get
go. The band set up shop in Chris' Sylmar backyard and even threw their
first re-united show in the same spot! This first show introduced the
band to new guitarist, Rogelio Lozano. The band had evolved to a new
level quickly, and as a five-piece was quickly adopting a brazen hip hop
/ hardcore sound and the newer material proved it. Social Justice was
at it again, playing shows with local bands like Stickman, Knowledge
Threat, Strife, Jughead’s Revenge, Tres Flores, Das Klown, and more.

The band went and recorded their follow up EP, "I Refuse To Lose" in May
of 1992 with the help of friend, Roy Z. This album was recorded at
Silver Cloud Studios in Burbank, California. Released on the bands own,
Justice Records, this was limited to only 500 pressings. (This formula
of band, producer, studio, etc. would become the future downset formula)
The new release captured the band at its peak. With a newer hip hop
& hardcore crossover style the band was playing all over the Los
Angeles County and once again dominated the SFV hardcore scene.

The band was obviously changing and growing. With the loss of Don Ward
and back as a four piece the band went on to perform live on KXLU radio
in Los Angeles. downset songs to be, "Body Cry", and "Breed The Killer"
can be heard on this performance as well as covers by Hard Stance, and
the ever loved, "Burning Fight" by Inside Out that downset went on to
perform as well. The last documented Social Justice show was out in
Riverside at a spot called Spanky's on November 28th 1992. Day's after
this show the band decided to call it quits as the legendary valley
hardcore act, and assumed the role of the crossover act, downset.

As downset. gained popularity in the mid nineties, demand for Social
Justice material grew, Green records in Italy re-released the only
official re-release of the 7 inch "I Refuse To Lose" in 1993 which
included the “Burning Fight” track left off of the US Limited pressing.
Another label from Europe, (Lost & Found) un-officially re-released
the 12 inch, "Unity Is Strength" in 1995 on CD, and the track "Youth
Unite" was included on both versions of the rare 2CD compilation "Golden
Shower of 72 Hits" in 1995 with bands like Uniform Choice, Instead,
Ignite, Sick of it All, Slapshot and more. The first 12” was also
released in its entirety on a CD compilation called “A Time We'll
Remember Vol.6” in 1999 with Stalag 13, Freeze, and Breakdown, There is
also an extremely rare bootleg of the 1992 KXLU radio show, as well as
videos of several 1988 and 1989 shows floating around and 1991 and 1992
shows in circulation.

In addition to downset. members went on to play numerous other bands
including Cypress Hill, Sx10, Supervillain, Drunk With Power, Turnedown,
Adema, Jodoh, Bottom Line, and others."

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Yet another of the Straight Edge bands to burst into action in the late 1980's Northern England Hardcore scene. Thanks to Jase Fox for putting me in touch with the guys and to Heath and Russell for sending me some photos of the boys in action.

Friday, October 21, 2011

OK - so here's some really old video from the late 80's. I found this on an old VHS tape I had from back in the day.

The footage was aired on a youth affairs type TV show - on BBC Northern Ireland or UTV? It features a number of interview with people who were/are involved with the Warzone Collective in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It shows footage of one of the bands who were on the go at the time - "Sledgehammer". It also has shots of the Vegetarian Restaurant which the group were involved in running and a samll piece on squatting in Belfast. Warzone Collective website